ahhh the REALest monsters, nigga!

these wandering monsters held me
in their palms

as I yammered, my chest and nose swollen
crying

"hey

HEY:

every time you breathed
it stamped a wave on this clay
lodestars for my love
you let me hang on the fur
of your back
dragging along till my feet could steady
into the clomping stagger you see today
but now it is like big hands letting go
of a tiny waist to let the wheels ride
freely

for every dot I see,
you will be whales
in my heart
swirling, booming beautiful
the echoes of your voices
vibrating across everything
giving it shape and coloring

so then, maybe you will be dolphins too
because you are massive in my being,
because the sound and song you make is gorgeous and all-encompassing
but also because it is the method by which I see all around me
(and also you are supersmart, and also you are good to my tongue)"

these wandering monsters held me
in their palms
I slept, woke, ate, and dreamed there

and they walked on and on
looking down at me
the smiles on their mouths
as big as my whole body

until one day,
the thumpthumpcrunchthump
of branches underneath feet stopped

and I stood up in my nest
and looked about,
we had come to the edge

They all stood shoulder by shoulder,
fuzzy monoliths in the night

and pointed out across the valley

I turned, staring up at their eyes
(like rows of glowing moons, but with pupils!)
climbed, reached up to stroke and lick
their lashes

and we whispered to each other

and then I ran back down their arms
across their outstretched fingers
and leapt